Department for Transport

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of uninsured vehicles in the UK; and how many vehicles were seized for unpaid insurance in each year since 2009-10.

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps (a) his Department and (b) the DVLA is taking to increase the number of seizures of uninsured vehicles.

Andrew Jones: Since 2011 the Government has had in place an insurance and compliance strategy, namely the Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) scheme operated by DVLA and the Motor Insurers Bureau, which aims to reduce the level of uninsured driving. It is estimated that CIE has already helped reduce levels of uninsured driving from 1.4 million in 2010 to 1 million vehicles now. The police have powers under Section 165A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to seize a vehicle that is being used on a public road without motor insurance. How police enforce the law is an operational matter for their discretion. The table below shows the number of vehicles seized by the police for driving without insurance. Year2009201020112012201320142015vehicles seized180,000150,000140,000137,000135,000116,000121,000

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Tolls

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of (a) tolls and (b) fines related to non-payment of tolls were unpaid on the Dartford Crossing in each of the last three years; and what the cost to the public purse of unpaid fines was in each of those years.

Andrew Jones: A new payment system was introduced at the Dartford Crossing on 30 November 2014 known as Dart Charge. 93% of drivers are paying the charge on time and I understand that similar charging systems without barriers also do not achieve complete first time compliance. Cases of non-payment are followed up appropriately.  Year - Dart ChargeProportion of crossings charges not paidProportion of unpaid Penalty Charge NoticesValue of unpaid Penalty Charge NoticesApril 2015 – March 2016 (New system)7.5%Note 1Note 130 November 2014 – March 2015 (New system)6.1%1.73%£13,431,945.07Year - Pre Dart ChargeProportion of crossings where the charge has not been paidNumber of violations* and DTDs**Value of unpaid road user charge from DTD passages  (Not inclusive of money not recovered from violations as this historical data was not collected)April 2014 – 30 November 20140.36%107,449£64,940April 2013 – March 20140.34%151,311£85,828 Note 1 – The proportion of unpaid Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for April 2015 to March 2016 and the subsequent cost to the public purse of unpaid PCNs for that year cannot be accurately determined at this point in time because around 275,000 of these PCNs were issued in 2016 and are still in the early stages of the enforcement process. Action is ongoing and can take many months to complete so the proportion of unpaid PCNs relating to 2015/16 and the cost to the public purse can be expected to change as a proportion will be paid over the coming months. *Violation - Any crossing for which there is no valid payment eg tailgaters.**DTD - Dockets used to be issued to personal users of the Crossing with no means of payment that were allowed passage at that time.

Railways: Yorkshire and the Humber

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the speed of passenger trains between Doncaster and Hull; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: By the end of 2019, the Arriva Rail North franchise has committed to upgrading the Hull-Doncaster-Sheffield route to a new high-quality ‘Northern Connect’ service. There will be new 100mph-capable trains on these longer-distance services. The total passenger journey time will also depend on the planned stopping pattern and other speed limiting factors on the route such as level crossings.

Railway Stations: North of England

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding  streams are available for the construction of new rail stations in the North of England.

Andrew Jones: We have made available up to £20 million towards the construction costs of new and re-opened railway stations through the New Stations Fund, details of which, including bidding criteria, will be published shortly. Promoters of new stations may also be able to bid for funding from Local Growth Deals and to seek contributions from local authorities or other third parties. Under the first round in 2013, funding was awarded to five stations, three of which are now open (New Court, Pye Corner and Lee Bridge).

Govia Thameslink Railway

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the Govia Thameslink Railway remedial plan.

Claire Perry: This has been published and is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/525767/govia-thameslink-remedial-plan.pdf

Roads: Freight

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has (a) received and (b) made to his French counterpart on the effect on road freight of recent strike action in France.

Andrew Jones: Transport Ministers and the Department for Transport had received no written representations on this subject, as of 31st May 2016. The effect on road freight of the recent strike action has not been specifically raised by UK Transport Ministers with French counterparts.

Space Technology

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 37788, what estimate he has made of the overall cost to the public purse in the last Parliament of his Department's work on the consideration of the potential site for a UK spaceport.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was commissioned to research and produce the 2014 Government Spaceplan Review of commercial spaceplane certification and operations. In addition to identifying key criteria for UK spaceports, and identifying potential locations based on these, the Spaceplane Review also set out the potential for horizontal spaceplane operations from the UK and provided prospective businesses with the detailed groundwork for making commercial spaceflight operations in the UK a reality. This work is now providing the basis for the legislative measures that will be brought forward in the Modern Transport Bill to enable a broad commercial space market to develop in the UK. The Department for Transport contributed approximately £223,000 to this Review and the CAA’s subsequent work. The Department also incurred estimated costs of £86,000 in support of the 2014 Spaceplane Review and consulting on the review’s key criteria and conclusions on spaceport location, the outcome of which was published in March 2015 https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/spaceport-locations-and-criteria.

Govia Thameslink Railway: Industrial Disputes

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 May 2016 to Question 37520, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of industrial action on the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern rail franchise since that franchise came into operation.

Claire Perry: The impact of industrial action on farebox revenue is a commercial matter for the Department. The Department continues to monitor any impacts arising from such action.

Railways: Per Capita Costs

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent on rail services per head of population in each region of England in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Claire Perry: The Department continues to forecast significant growth in use of rail and is constantly considering proposals for new investment which represent best value of money for the taxpayer. We are fully committed to investing in the north as part of our ambitious plans to build a Northern Powerhouse. That is why we are spending £13billion improving the region’s transport, reversing decades of underinvestment, providing better journeys and securing long-term economic growth. We are investing £22 million in improving Newcastle station and its surrounding areas, and in the next few years passengers will see improvements including more services, more capacity and the scrapping of Pacers, as well as a fleet of state-of-the-art new trains for the East Coast Mainline. The modernisation of the Great Western is the biggest investment in this railway since it was built by Brunel. This investment will enable faster, more reliable services, more seats, better stations and more freight trains. This will improve the experience of rail users and stimulate economic growth across the South West and beyond. Completion of electrification to Cardiff is planned to be completed in CP5. The step change seen in London spending last year is due to increased spending on London Underground and HS2 plus some increase in the Network Grant. This investment is needed to meet the ever increasing demand for passenger journeys into London, of which there are currently about 4 billion every year. The most recent government expenditure on rail is shown in the table below. Figures for 15/16 are not currently available and will be published in November 2016. Government expenditure on railways1 per head of population Region2014/15 North East£52 North West£93 Yorkshire & Humber£98 East Midlands£34 West Midlands£68 East of England£71 London£353 South East£69 South West£35 England£113 1 Includes expenditure on all types of railwaySource: HMT, ONS

Railway Signals

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value is of Network Rail's traffic management first deployment contract covering the Wales Rail Operating Centre and the Romford Rail Operating Centre; what the commissioning dates are for the two traffic management systems under that contract; and when the full integrated traffic management functionality for each location will be available.

Claire Perry: The installation programmes for the two Rail Operating Centres have values of circa £35,000,000 each, £70,000,000 combined. Romford has a planned commissioning date of November 2016. All contracted functionality will be delivered on that date. A commissioning date for Cardiff has not been finalised.

Transport: Infrastructure

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 12 May to Question 36843, which reviews of which transport infrastructure projects the Cabinet Secretary has participated in since his appointment to that role.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) carries out reviews on all major infrastructure projects in the Government's Major Projects Portfolio, including transport projects. Progress across these projects including the findings of IPA reviews are reported to the Cabinet Secretary on a regular basis.

Transport: Finance

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26794, when he plans to launch the new Access fund.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Access fund comprises overall funding of £560m for sustainable travel, with £500m capital and £60m revenue funding. We plan to launch the £60m Access fund revenue competition later this year. The £500m capital is embedded in the Local Growth Fund. A further round of this competition was opened in March 2016 for which the deadline is the summer. We encourage all Local Authorities to work in partnership with their Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and to think now about aligning their future Access fund bids with the proposals that LEPs are currently developing for the Local Growth Fund.

West Coast Railway Line

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 37456, how the conversion of the West Coast Main Line Class 801 units to bi-mode diesel operation will be funded; and how his Department will recover such conversion costs.

Claire Perry: The Class 801 units will not be operating on the West Coast Main Line as part of the Intercity Express Programme.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Communities and Local Government: Pay

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department's (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

Mr Mark Francois: The tables below are the average hourly rates for all employees (Senior Civil Service and below within my department for the following categories. However, I would note to the Hon. Member that such simple averages do not paint an accurate figure of our workforce and recruitment practices.2015CategoryAverage hourly rateBME£18.39Non-BME£21.05Undeclared£19.922016CategoryAverage hourly rateBME£18.20Non-BME£20.83Undeclared£20.79The Civil Service is changing, and our recruitment seeks to reflect the make-up and composition of our nation as a whole. Historically, BME staff were under-represented: both in terms of previous recruitment patterns and the number and proportion in higher grades, both of these factors have contributed to the differences in average salaries.We are making progress the proportion of BME staff in the Civil Service has risen from 9.2% in 2010 to 10.6% in 2015, but we recognise that there is still more to do.In March, the Government published its 2016 Talent Action Plan for the Civil Service. It provides a progress update on initiatives to increase diversity in the Civil Service, including cross-Government talent programmes aimed at under-represented groups.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/talent-action-plan-2016-removing-the-barriers-to-success

Domestic Violence: Rural Areas

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to provide (a) refuges and (b) other support to family members in rural areas experiencing domestic abuse and other relationship problems; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones: Domestic Abuse is a devastating crime and we are determined to ensure that no one is turned away from the support they need irrespective of where they live. Government has committed £80 million of extra funding up to 2020 to tackle violence against women and girls. In the strategy to end violence against women and girls published on 8 March, we set out our ambition to improve services for women suffering from domestic abuse committing to a new Statement of Expectations to set out for the first time what we expect from local areas. To support this, we are launching a new two year fund, which will be open to local authorities across the country including those from rural areas, to bid for funding for refuges and other forms of accommodation based support and to help local areas take the steps they need to meet the National Statement.This builds on the £3.5 million funding in 2015/16 and is on top of the £10 million funding to strengthen the provision of safe accommodation in the last spending review period. The Government does recognise the distinct challenges faced by victims of domestic abuse in rural areas and has supported bids for funding from rural areas for example Suffolk, Shropshire and Somerset.Our Troubled Families Programme is about transforming the way local services support families with multiple problems. It incentivises services to come together, working with and understanding the needs of the whole family instead of constantly reacting to their individual problems. 29% of families in entry to the programme between 2012 and 2015 were experiencing domestic violence or abuse.

Local Growth Deals: Hertfordshire

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the appropriateness of the use by Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership of the £15 million of Growth Deal funds allocated for the purposes of land acquisition.

James Wharton: Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP) round 1 growth deal included a £16 million Government commitment to invest in the A1(M) transport corridor supporting the acceleration of housing delivery across this growth area. Government has put clear assurance systems in place to ensure that the LEP operates transparently and we will continue to work with them to ensure their systems offer value for money, and that public resources have been spent in a reasonable and considered manner.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Pay

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department's (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The table below shows the average hourly salary rates for all employees (Senior Civil Service and below) within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. However, I would note to the Hon. Member that such simple overall averages do not paint an accurate figure of our workforce and recruitment practices. The table therefore also includes a breakdown for each Foreign and Commonwealth Office grade. 20152016GradeBMENon-BMEUnknownBMENon-BMEUnknownA19.769.959.559.599.719.59A211.1411.0711.0911.1811.0911.07B313.0113.1113.0613.0413.1613.08C415.0615.1515.3615.3915.6415.64C518.2818.9718.9318.6619.0119.00D625.7524.9125.3026.4925.8626.00D730.0530.7531.2130.6031.0930.84SMS136.4836.4837.6136.4536.6336.20SMS246.3746.8049.7846.7847.3948.84SMS3 64.7970.0060.9466.3266.45SMS4  92.52 96.1689.66   Overall15.8120.8220.6416.1521.5819.81The Civil Service is changing, and our recruitment seeks to reflect the make-up and composition of our nation as a whole. Historically, BME staff were under-represented, both in terms of previous recruitment patterns and the number and proportion in higher grades. These factors have contributed to the differences in overall average salaries.We are making progress - the proportion of BME staff in the Civil Service has risen from 9.2% in 2010 to 10.6% in 2015 - but we recognise that there is still more to do.In March, the Government published its 2016 Talent Action Plan for the Civil Service. It provides a progress update on initiatives to increase diversity in the Civil Service, including cross-Government talent programmes aimed at under-represented groups.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/talent-action-plan-2016-removing-the-barriers-to-success

Brazil: Olympic Games

Richard  Arkless: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions the Government has had with the Brazilian government on ensuring the safety of athletes and tourists travelling from the UK for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Mr Hugo Swire: I met the Brazilian Minister for Sport on 7 June and discussed preparations for the Rio 2016 Games, including security. The British and Brazilian Governments, as consecutive hosts of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, have cooperated across a range of areas in preparation for the Rio 2016 Games. We have shared our experience of hosting London 2012 through visits to both the UK and Brazil by security and safety experts and through regular discussion of athlete and tourist safety. In advance of the Rio 2016 Games, we encourage all visitors to Brazil to consult our ‘Stay ahead of the Games’ consular campaign, which provides further advice on how visitors can best ensure their own safety during Games time.

Companies: Ownership

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether a timetable has been agreed for the Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies to establish central registers of beneficial ownership.

James Duddridge: The new arrangements agreed with the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories with financial centres must be in place by June 2017. UK law enforcement authorities will, however, work with these jurisdictions to ensure that the spirit of the arrangements is respected immediately.

Middle East: Genocide

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will initiate a resolution of the UN Security Council related to whether genocide is being committed against religious minorities in Syria and Iraq.

James Duddridge: As the Prime Minister, the Member for Witney (David Cameron) has said, there is a very strong case for saying that the atrocities committed by Daesh amount to genocide, but recognition of genocide should be a matter for international courts, not political bodies.When an attempt was made in 2014 to have the UN Security Council refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, it was vetoed by Russia and China. We have no reason to believe another referral would deliver a different outcome.

Andargachew Tsege

Mr David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he will be raising the case of Andargachew Tsege on his next visit to Ethiopia.

James Duddridge: The Government takes the detention and welfare of Mr Andargachew Tsege very seriously. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised Mr Tsege’s case with the Ethiopian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister during his visit to Ethiopia on 1 June 2016. The Foreign Secretary received assurances that Mr Tsege will be allowed access to independent legal advice to allow him to discuss options under the Ethiopian legal system. We will continue to press the Ethiopians as necessary, including during any future Ministerial visits, to ensure that Mr Tsege has legal representation. During the visit, the Foreign Secretary despatched a senior Foreign Office official, travelling with him, to visit Mr Tsege in prison.

Andargachew Tsege

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government plans to request the release of Mr Andargachew Tsege during future Ministerial visits to Ethiopia.

James Duddridge: The Government takes the detention and welfare of Mr Andargachew Tsege very seriously. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised Mr Tsege’s case with the Ethiopian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister during his visit to Ethiopia on 1 June 2016. The Foreign Secretary received assurances that Mr Tsege will be allowed access to independent legal advice to allow him to discuss options under the Ethiopian legal system. We will continue to press the Ethiopians as necessary, including during any future Ministerial visits, to ensure that Mr Tsege has legal representation. During the visit, the Foreign Secretary despatched a senior Foreign Office official, travelling with him, to visit Mr Tsege in prison.

UK Membership of EU

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether all powers currently held by the EU will revert to the Government and Parliament in the event of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

Mr David Lidington: The process for a member state to with draw from the EU is set out in article 50 of the Treaty of European Union.   The process of withdrawing from the EU is untested, and would contain numerous elements, including the outcome of the negotiations, about which there is currently little clarity. It could lead to up to a decade or more of uncertainty.

Ethiopia

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he plans to next visit Ethiopia.

James Duddridge: My Rt Hon Friend, the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Philip Hammond MP), Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) visited Ethiopia on 1 June 2016. The Foreign Secretary keeps his visit plans under constant review.

EU Staff

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 May 2016 to Question 38068, what assessment he has made of the implications for securing the Government's policy objectives at EU level of fewer (a) junior and (b) senior level staff employed in the European Commission who are UK nationals.

Mr David Lidington: It is in UK interests for British officials to be well represented in the EU Institutions. UK experience and insight can add real value to the EU Institutions’ policy and legislative development. The EU Staffing Unit, established in April 2013, promotes EU careers across the UK and supports candidates through the application process. It has increased secondments in positions of strategic importance to the UK. The European Fast Stream within the Civil Service has also been re-launched.

Northern Ireland Office

Taxation: Northern Ireland

Sir Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what further plans the Government has to devolve tax powers to Northern Ireland.

Mrs Theresa Villiers: The Government remains committed to devolving corporation tax rate setting powers subject to the Executive delivering sustainable finances, as set out in the Stormont House Agreement. We also recognise the potential for further fiscal powers going to the Executive.

Human Rights Act 1998: Northern Ireland

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on proposals to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and the potential effect of such a repeal on the Good Friday Agreement; and if she will make a statement.

Mrs Theresa Villiers: The Government was elected with a manifesto pledge to replace the Human Rights Act with a UK Bill of Rights. Discussions with all of the devolved administrations have been held and that engagement will continue. Our reform proposals will be consistent with our obligations under the Belfast Agreement.

Economic Situation: Northern Ireland

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect on the economy in Northern Ireland of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Government is clear that we are safer, stronger and better off in the EU. Reports by HM Treasury are clear that leaving the EU would bring serious economic costs that would affect businesses, jobs, living standards and public finances for decades to come.

Economic Situation: Northern Ireland

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps she is taking to help strengthen the economy of Northern Ireland.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Government’s long term economic plan to strengthen the economy is delivering for the UK and for Northern Ireland. By cutting the deficit, reducing business taxes and encouraging investment in enterprise and innovation we are making Northern Ireland a more competitive and attractive place to do business.

Northern Ireland Government

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps the Government is taking to reach an agreement with political parties in Northern Ireland on how to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland's past.

Mrs Theresa Villiers: This Government has made more progress on this issue than any of our predecessors and we remain committed to establishing the legacy bodies contained in the Stormont House Agreement. I have continued to meet representatives from Northern Ireland political parties and victims’ groups to try to build the consensus needed to allow legislation to be brought forward.

Low Pay: Northern Ireland

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps the Government is taking to tackle low pay in Northern Ireland.

Mr Ben Wallace: This Government is committed to delivering a higher wage, lower tax and lower welfare society. That is why we have introduced the new National Living Wage of £7.20 which will benefit 100,000 people in Northern Ireland and increase annual wages by up to £900.

Attorney General

Companies: Fraud

Catherine West: To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Serious Fraud Office is taking to address fraud by employees in large companies.

Robert Buckland: The role of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to investigate and prosecute serious or complex frauds.The SFO is committed to investigating and, where appropriate, prosecuting such serious frauds, as seen in the conviction of Tom Hayes for offences related to manipulating LIBOR.The Government is consulting and will introduce a new criminal offence to apply to corporations who failed to prevent their agents from criminal facilitating tax evasion.The Government will also consult on extending the criminal offence of “failure to prevent” from bribery to other economic crimes such as fraud and money laundering so that firms are properly held to account for criminal activity that takes place within them.

Attorney General: UK Membership of EU

William Wragg: To ask the Attorney General, if he will place in the Library copies of all letters, leaflets and other material from the Law Officers' Departments circulated to (a) stakeholders and (b) members of the public on the EU Referendum; what the costs of the production and distribution of that material has been since 1 January 2016; and what he estimates the cost of any further production and distribution of such material will be between 6 May 2016 and 23 June 2016.

Robert Buckland: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to questions 38811 and 38825 by my Hon. Friend the Minister for Constitutional Reform on the 8th June.

Solicitors: Voluntary Work

Jim Shannon: To ask the Attorney General, if he will take steps to offer incentives to encourage more solicitors to offer pro bono work.

Robert Buckland: Pro Bono is a voluntary commitment made by lawyers who understand that the service they provide is invaluable to those individuals who would otherwise be denied access to justice.As pro bono champions of the Government, the Law Officers support a number of projects through our co-ordinating committees. The Government has also provided funding for several projects, such as the Litigants in Person package run by the Ministry of Justice.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Public Sector: Audit

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment the Government has made of the auditing sector's contribution to economic productivity.

Anna Soubry: No such assessment has been made.

Audit: EU Law

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reasons the Government is not proceeding with joint auditing or increased tendering in its transposition of EU Regulation No. 537/2014 on statutory auditing of public-interest entities.

Anna Soubry: The Government does intend to implement provisions relating to increased tendering as part of the implementation of the EU Audit Regulation and Directive. This is in line with the recommendations of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).The Government’s implementation of the EU Audit Directive and Regulation will include measures to require regular tendering of auditor appointments. Under implementing regulations currently laid before Parliament, all companies that are banks, building societies or insurers, or which have securities admitted to a regulated market, will be required regularly to subject their audit engagement to tendering. The maximum duration of an audit engagement will be limited to 20 years (currently there is no maximum duration). This will be introduced on a phased basis with some longstanding engagements given a further 4 or 7 financial years after the regulations come into force before they must be brought to an end and tendered to new auditors.The provision on joint audit in the EU Regulation would act as an exemption from having to retender with the frequency envisaged by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The Government consulted on the implementation of the Audit Directive including this option, and concluded the option should not be taken up.Joint audit is not a practice followed in the UK, though it is expressly permitted by the Companies Act and legislation on some other entities. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has consulted on whether to take up this derogation. In response to our discussion document in December 2014 on auditor regulation, only 4 of 25 respondents supported its implementation.It is unclear that increased joint audit would encourage competition. The option in the EU Regulation could result in prolonged audit engagements (up to 24 years) and fewer changes in auditor. This would be contrary to the objective of the CMA, which is to increase retendering of audits.The CMA considered the impact of joint audits on competition and concluded that promoting joint audits would have little effect on barriers to entry, expansion and selection. The CMA’s conclusions were based on views provided by a range of stakeholders. The CMA was not able to quantify the potential cost of imposing joint audits, but did state that they believed that across the market the costs would be potentially significant. They state that a lot of weight was placed on the views of investors, who were almost universally opposed to joint audits on the grounds of additional costs and risks to audit quality.

Audit: Competition

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to increase levels of competition in the auditing sector.

Anna Soubry: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) completed its investigation into competition in the market for statutory audits of UK companies in the FTSE 350 in 2013. Since that investigation the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, the CMA and the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have been working to implement the remedies that the CMA identified to improve competition.The CMA issued an Order mandating the tendering of auditor appointments by UK companies in the FTSE 350 in 2014.The FRC responded positively to the CMA recommendation to increase the frequency of its inspections of audits of the FTSE 350 companies and now expects to review most such audits at least once every five years.The FRC has also developed further its communication with audit committees, to help them to meet new responsibilities under the UK Corporate Governance Code to report on significant matters arising from FRC inspections.The CMA’s proposed remedy to prohibit restrictive clauses in companies’ agreements with third parties (such as loan agreements), to limit their choice of auditor, will be implemented as part of the current EU Audit Directive and Regulation.Once implemented the Directive and Regulation are expected to increase competition in the sector as they broaden the requirement for regular tendering of auditor appointments. Under implementing regulations currently laid before Parliament, all companies that are banks, building societies or insurers, or which have securities admitted to a regulated market, will be required regularly to subject their audit engagement to tendering. The maximum duration of an audit engagement will be limited to 20 years (currently there is no maximum duration). This will be introduced on a phased basis with some longstanding engagements given a further 4 or 7 financial years after the regulations come into force before they must be brought to an end and tendered to new auditors.

Construction: Productivity

Hannah Bardell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress has been made in improving construction sector productivity since publication of the Government's Productivity Plan in July 2015.

Hannah Bardell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the major barriers his Department has identified are to improving construction productivity; and what steps the Government has taken to remove those barriers.

Nick Boles: Working with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), the Government has identified skills, business models and innovation as the major sources of improved productivity in the sector. To promote increased investment in skills, an Apprenticeship Levy will be introduced in April 2017 on all companies with a pay bill above £3 million per annum. The CLC Review of the Construction Labour Model launched in January 2016, is examining the labour model in construction and will recommend measures which will help lead house-building and other construction firms to ensure they have the skills, and the skills pipelines, that they need. The Government Construction Strategy 2016-2020 published in March this year has a focus on smarter procurement, using Government’s position in the market to help drive improved productivity in construction and better value for the tax payer. Businesses need money to invest in productivity improvement, and a review of the practice of cash retention and of the effectiveness of the legislation covering construction contracts (Part 2 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996), is currently underway. Digital technology has great potential to drive productivity improvement through innovation in construction, and the UK is among the world leaders thanks to the Government’s support for the use and development of Building Information Modelling. In the Budget the Government announced support for the development of the next digital standard for the construction sector, Building Information Modelling 3.

Manufacturing Industries: Employment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to attract more manufacturing jobs to the UK.

Anna Soubry: The Government is creating a highly competitive business environment that makes the UK an attractive location for new manufacturing investment and drives strong productivity growth and export success. We have invested £300m over five years in the High Value Manufacturing Catapult to support the commercialisation of the innovation and new technologies that will be crucial to the future of manufacturing in the UK.UK Trade and Investment works to attract foreign manufacturing companies to set up and grow in the UK. The recently published EY report (EY’s Attractiveness Survey 2016, UK) put the UK ahead of Germany for a second year running in terms of attracting manufacturing related foreign direct investment.

Department for Education

Pupils: Autism

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children (a) with autism and (b) identified as having autistic spectrum disorder as their primary type of need were enrolled in general hospital schools in each year since 2010.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children (a) diagnosed with autism and (b) identified as having autistic spectrum disorder as a special educational need (i) are and (ii) have been educated in independent schools in each year since 2010.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children (a) with autism and (b) identified has having autistic spectrum disorder as their primary type of need who were receiving School Action or School Action Plus support at the start of 2014 have subsequently been assessed as not requiring Special Educational Needs support of an Education, Health and Care plan.

Edward Timpson: The Department does not collect information about the primary type of SEN for children in independent schools, general hospital schools or in the school action category. Information in the form requested for those with school action plus, in 2014, is not readily available and could be compiled only at a disproportionate cost.

Pupils: Autism

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children (a) with autism and (b) identified as having autistic spectrum disorder as their primary type of need were enrolled in pupil referral units in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson: The table below gives the number of children enrolled in pupil referral units with autistic spectrum disorder as their primary type of need from 2012 to 2015. This is based on the underlying data file published alongside the ‘Special Educational Needs: England’[1] report from 2012 onwards. This underlying data was not published prior to 2012. The coverage for 2015 is different to previous years – pupils who were formerly School Action but have transferred to SEN support were required to provide a type of need for the first time. This should be considered when making comparisons between years. Please note we are only able to provide data for children who have autistic spectrum disorder as their primary type of need. This does not include children with Autism as a secondary type of need, children with autism receiving school action or potentially children with autism not identified as having SEN. Number of children identified as having an autistic spectrum disorder as a primary type of need and in pupil referral units 2012201320142015Pupil referral unit164199226248Percentage of total number of children with ASD as primary type of need0.2%0.3%0.3%0.3%   [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

Education: Islam

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on preaching of intolerance, hate and isolationism in Islamic out-of-school education settings.

Edward Timpson: We have concerns, as highlighted recently by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, about settings where children are being put at risk of harm. We are aware of a range of concerns about teaching in madrassahs and other settings, usually reported by local authorities and schools. To build our evidence base about out-of-school education settings, we launched a call for evidence and asked for information about any concerns in relation to safeguarding, extremism, physical punishment or the suitability of premises. This generated a large number of responses which are being analysed and we will be publishing our response in due course.

Children: Day Care

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides on the level of fees a local authority may charge to administer the per nursery pupil payment for the provision of 30 hours free childcare.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Local authorities are permitted to make deductions for administration costs from their Dedicated Schools Grant early years allocations. We expect local authorities to keep these costs to a minimum and are clear, in our Early Education and Childcare statutory guidance, that they should maximise the funding that is passed to providers. The rates of funding that local authorities pay to providers, as well as the amounts they retain centrally, are published in our early years funding benchmarking tool which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-benchmarking-tool.

Truancy

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide support to parents of children experiencing emotionally-based school refusal.

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the current guidance for schools and local authorities on emotionally-based school refusal; and if her Department will publish distinct statutory guidance on emotionally-based school refusal.

Edward Timpson: All children of compulsory school age are entitled to a full time education which is suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. Schools and local authorities are empowered to keep absences to a minimum and have measures available to support and promote good attendance. Where parents are struggling to get their child to go to school, the school and local authorities can provide support and work with families to improve their child’s attendance. The Department’s advice on school attendance sets out that a conversation between parents and the school is the first step. It also sets out how schools and local authorities can help with wider issues. This guidance can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence/help-with-getting-your-child-to-go-to-school Where there is an underlying mental health issue, such as a social anxiety disorder, schools should look to secure the right support. To help schools identify underlying mental health problems in young people, in June 2014, the Department issued advice on mental health and behaviour to ensure all young people get the help they need, which can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2 To secure specialist support where it is needed, the Government is making £1.4 billion available over the course of this Parliament to transform local children and young people’s mental health services to deliver more integrated and accessible services. We have also contributed to a £3 million joint pilot of single points of contact in schools and specialist mental health services to ensure students have timely access to appropriate specialist support where needed. We are also promoting support for parents on mental health. We continue to provide funding to Young Minds for their Parent Helpline. We have also funded the MindEd website to provide a new section for parents – the materials include information for parents on children who refuse to go to school and what steps to take, this information is attached.



Info_for_parents_children_refuse_to_go_to_school
(PDF Document, 903.85 KB)

Primary Education

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 5 May 2016 to Question 35933, on primary education, where the proportion of the teachers and head teachers who supported the principle of the assessment reforms when responding to the 2013 consultation appears in the analysis of consultation responses.

Nick Gibb: The response to Question 35933 stated that the consultation in 2013 was an important exercise to seek views on aspects of policy. An answer to that question does not, therefore, appear anywhere in the consultation. We work with teachers and head teachers as a matter of course. This included the 2013 primary assessment and accountability consultation.

Ministry of Justice

Offenders: Employment

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the total spend by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) on projects to improve the employability of ex-offenders came from the European Social Fund via the NOMS Co-Financing Organisation in each year since January 2010.

Andrew Selous: We are committed to improving the employability of offenders. A range of services is available to help offenders improve their employability by helping them increase their knowledge, skills and employment experience. This can also include support to tackle substance misuse or to improve mental health. Providing meaningful work in prisons and vocational qualifications also helps increase employability. Funding comes from a variety of sources including through contracts to provide education and health services, and via Community Rehabilitation Companies. We do not, therefore, collate centrally all expenditure on projects to improve the employability of ex-offenders. We do, however, carefully record and monitor the funding received from the European Social Fund and ensure there is no duplication of service provision. All funding received from the European Social Fund (ESF) is recorded in the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts. In accordance with strict ESF rules, all funding is passed on to third-party providers who work with offenders to improve their employability. These providers are selected as part of a competitive process.

Ministry of Justice: UK Membership of EU

Tom Pursglove: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2016 to Question 37198, how many of the leaflets entitled Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK have been returned to his Department; and what the postage cost to the Government has been of such returns.

Andrew Selous: I refer the Hon Member to the Prime Minister's response of 25th May 2016. This information is not collated centrally by the Department.

Probation

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders on probation have been (a) classified in each risk category, (b) moved up a risk category and (c) moved down a risk category in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous: The information requested could be only obtained at disproportionate cost.

Probation

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of his policies on transforming rehabilitation on the performance of the Probation Service.

Andrew Selous: We assess the performance of the National Probation Service and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) through a range of service levels and, for CRCs, through a robust contract management and assurance process. Performance information against these service levels is published quarterly. The most recent statistics were published on 28 April and can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-management-information-update-to-december-2015. Cohorts were established from 1 October 2015 and there will be a 26 month delay to allow for robust measurement over a sustained period, cases to clear courts, and analysis of the data. We will, therefore, be unable to assess whether the reforms are reducing reoffending until December 2017.

Probation

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what response he has made to HM Inspectorate of Probation's Transforming Rehabilitation, Early Implementation 5 report, published in May 2016.

Andrew Selous: We are confident our reforms to probation services are being successfully implemented but are not complacent and are working to improve the issues identified in this report. The National Offender Management Service have developed an action plan and we are addressing the Chief Inspector's recommendations. We continue to closely monitor and robustly manage providers to make sure they fulfil their contractual commitments to maintain service delivery, reduce reoffending, protect the public and provide value for money to the taxpayer and will continue to support probation staff to deliver these important changes.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2016 to Question 37128, what the average cost is of a First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) appeal hearing.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The estimated average cost of an individual Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) tribunal case in the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) in 2014/15 (the latest period for which figures are available) was £468. The number of cases heard in that period can be found in the Tribunal and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly, the most recent of which is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/506218/tribunals-main-tables-oct-dec-2015.xlsx

Human Trafficking

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many claims to compensate victims of human trafficking have been lodged with the Criminals Injuries Compensation Authority in each of the last three years; and how much has been paid in compensation to victims of human trafficking in that time.

Mike Penning: The information requested is not held centrally.

Human Trafficking

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) victims in criminal human trafficking cases were awarded compensation by the trial judge and (b) convicted human traffickers were ordered to pay compensation to their victims by the trial judge in each of the last three years; what the value was of the award or order in each such case; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Penning: Data relating to compensation awarded in cases of human trafficking from 2013 to 2015 can be found in the “outcomes by offence” data tool table contained in the annual Criminal Justice Statistics publication, linked below. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2015 Additionally, the Home Office Joint Asset Recovery Database (JARD) records all asset recovery orders such as forfeiture and confiscation. In some confiscation cases, the Court will order that compensation be paid to victims out of the confiscation order. Between April 2013 and March 2016, there were three such orders and the total amount paid out in compensation was £155,944.26. The Government has introduced provisions for bespoke Slavery and Trafficking Reparation Orders in the Modern Slavery Act 2015. These orders are designed to ensure that more money confiscated from convicted traffickers goes directly to their victims.

Human Trafficking

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total value is of legal aid paid to enable victims of human trafficking to bring claims of compensation against their traffickers since the Modern Slavery Act 2015 came into force; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Penning: The Legal Aid Agency has continued to make funding available to enable victims of human trafficking to bring claims of compensation against their traffickers since the relevant provisions in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 came into force on 31 July 2015.The latest figures available cover up until 31 December 2015.No cases commenced after 31 July 2015 had completed by 31 December 2015, and therefore no information on expenditure is available.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Broadband

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the 10 Point Plan for a Better Openreach proposed by the industry coalition comprising Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, the Independent Networks Cooperative Association and the Federation of Communication Services in their letter to Ms Sharon White, Ofcom, dated 16 May 2016.

Mr Edward Vaizey: I am pleased to see that the industry is engaging constructively with Ofcom on this issue. The Government’s ambition is to ensure that the UK has the right infrastructure to meet the needs of business and consumers and enable the UK to remain a leading digital nation. We welcome Ofcom’s determination to tackle these issues and agree with the Regulator’s view that the current relationship between BT and Openreach will not deliver the country’s needs for more competition, better innovation and better service. Our belief is that Ofcom should be firmly focused on taking whatever action is needed to correct the competition problems identified, however radical a change that might be.

Mobile Phones

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the proportion of increased coverage of mobile signal to UK premises is since the December 2014 agreement with the four mobile network operators was secured.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Since 2014, the number of UK premises with 4G coverage has increased by 17% - to 90% in 2015. In addition, more than 99% of UK premises have mobile coverage (Ofcom 2015 Connected Nations Report, http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/market-data/infrastructure/connected-nations-2015/). Coverage will improve further as mobile operators upgrade and extend their network to meet the licence obligations arising from the Government's December 2014 agreement requiring each operator to provide voice coverage to at least 90% of the UK's landmass by 2017.

Aerials: Rural Areas

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many new telecommunications masts have been erected in rural areas since the agreement with the four mobile network operators in December 2014 guaranteeing voice and text coverage from each operator across 90 per cent of the UK by 2017.

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on how many telecommunications masts have been removed in rural areas since December 2014.

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many telecommunications masts were in operation in (a) England and (b) Wales in each of the last 10 years.

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many telecommunications masts were in operation in rural areas in (a) England and (b) Wales in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Neither DCMS nor Ofcom hold consistent time series data on the number of masts used by mobile network operators. Analysys Mason's report on the Financial Impact of Electronic Communications Code Changes, published 17 May 2016, estimated there were currently 33,000 physical sites hosting mobile communications across the UK, consisting of mobile towers or rooftops. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-publishes-proposals-for-a-new-electronic-communications-code

Data Protection

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on whether (a) a person's identity as used to authorise or verify an online account and (b) the fact that a person has such an account should be considered personal data for the purposes of data protection.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The use of a person's identity to authorise or verify an online account would constitute personal data if, as defined by the Data Protection Act (DPA), the data relates to a living individual who can be identified from those data, or from those data and other information that is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller. The definition of personal data also includes any expression of opinion about the individual and any indication of the intentions of the data controller or any other person in respect of that individual. Organisations that use online accounts are responsible for the development and implementation of appropriate procedures and systems so that personal data is processed in accordance with the provisions of the DPA and other relevant legislation and guidance. The Information Commissioner’s Office, who is the independent regulatory body responsible for enforcing the DPA in the UK, has produced guidance for the general public, private and public sector organisations on such matters. This guidance can be found on its’ website at; www.ico.org.uk

Information Commissioner: Pay

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that the Information Commissioner's Office and similar organisations do not award pay rises of more than one per cent to senior staff.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The July 2015 budget announced an average 1% pay award for public sector workforces from 2016/17. This is set out in Civil Service Pay Guidance, which is issued each year following negotiation with the Trade Unions. Under the terms of the Framework Agreement between the ICO and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Information Commissioner has responsibility for determining the pay and conditions of his staff, including his senior staff. In doing this, he is required to comply with overarching government pay guidance, including on pay restraint.

Department for Work and Pensions

Jobcentres

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department issued to Jobcentre Plus offices on the use of letters to jobseekers which combine information about attending a mandatory interview with a work coach and non-mandatory group information sessions.

Priti Patel: National guidance is in place for all Jobcentre Plus offices and provides clear instructions on the policy and process to follow when issuing letters to jobseekers. The process within the instructions does not permit the combining of information about attending a mandatory interview with a Work Coach and non-mandatory Group Information Sessions.

Flexible Support Fund

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 35354, for what reasons the correspondence does not inform claimants of the availability of the Flexible Support Fund.

Priti Patel: The purpose of the correspondence was to notify the claimants who may be affected of the changes to the work allowances and to highlight the work coach as the primary source of additional support. As the Flexible Support Fund is accessed at the discretion of the work coach and is based on individual claimant need, it was not explicitly referred to in the letter.

Jobcentres

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many referrals to debt advice services have been made by jobcentre staff in each of the last five years.

Priti Patel: The information requested is not held.

Flexible Support Fund

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the allocation for the Flexible Support Fund is lower in 2016-17 than in 2015-16.

Priti Patel: The budget for Flexible Support Fund (FSF) is subject to annual review and change. This is based on claimant needs and volumes, and as new policies are agreed and old policies are withdrawn. As discretionary expenditure it is also dependent upon overall Departmental affordability.The FSF budget has actually increased between 2015/16 and 2016/17. In 2015/16 it was £69.5m. It is £76.7m for 2016/17.

Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 35718, what his Department's combined legal costs were for the cases EE/2013/0145, EA2013/0148 and EA/2013/0149 heard at the First Tier Tribunal on 22 February 2016.

Priti Patel: The total recorded external legal cost of these cases up to March 2016 is around £94,000.This case raised important issues both for the Department, and for the Government as a whole, with regards to being able to create a safe space for free and frank provision of advice to officials and Ministers. The Government remains of a view that this was a case worth pursuing as the principles here are important ones for the proper conduct of public affairs.

Children: Maintenance

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 May 2016 to Question 38312, if he will provide details of the relevant legislative criteria for payment of child maintenance to carers of children looked after under a special guardianship order.

Priti Patel: The relevant legislative criteria to be a person with care are in Section 3(3) of the Child Support Act 1991, which states: S3. Child Support Act 1991(3) A person is a “person with care”, in relation to any child, if he is a person–(a) with whom the child has his home;(b) who usually provides day to day care for the child (whether exclusively or in conjunction with any other person); and(c) who does not fall within a prescribed category of person. There are no provisions prohibiting a Special Guardian from being a person with care in any supporting secondary Child Support legislation (in other words, they do not “fall within a prescribed category of person”).

Personal Independence Payment

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people currently carrying out personal independence payment assessments are healthcare professionals.

Justin Tomlinson: All Personal Independence Payment assessments are carried out by a fully qualified Health Professional.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disability living allowance claimants have been sanctioned due to inability to attend a personal independence payments assessment since the introduction of such payments.

Justin Tomlinson: Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) do not operate a regime of sanctions.

Children: Maintenance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average amount is of child maintenance debt owed to parents with care.

Priti Patel: As at the end of March 2016, the average amount of child maintenance debt owed to parents with care for the Child Maintenance Service 2012 scheme was £668 and the Child Support Agency 1993/2003 schemes was £2,067.  NotesFigure rounded to nearest pound.

Personal Independence Payment: Northern Ireland

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive on the introduction of personal independence payments in Northern Ireland.

Justin Tomlinson: The introduction of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and is the responsibility of the Department for Communities. Ministers and officials maintain regular contact with their Northern Ireland counterparts on social security matters, for example by introducing the recently updated Reciprocal Arrangements.

Personal Independence Payment

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what medical qualifications are required for people carrying out assessments for personal independence payments.

Justin Tomlinson: I refer my hon. Member to the reply I gave the Member for Caerphilly, Wayne David, Official Report, 9 May 2016.

Disability Living Allowance

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in which parliamentary constituencies individuals reside who have been subject to migration of benefits from disability living allowance to personal independence payments.

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will  publish the timetable by area of planned migration of benefits for people in receipt of disability living allowance to personal independence payments.

Justin Tomlinson: Since October 2013, we have been inviting existing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claimants with fixed term awards, those reaching age 16 or where there has been a change in circumstances, to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Roll out of this activity was introduced in a controlled way and became national across Great Britain from July 2015. We started full PIP roll out in July 2015 in a controlled way in specific postcode areas and extended to all postcodes in Great Britain from October 2015. Full PIP roll out involves inviting those with long-term or indefinite awards of DLA to claim PIP on a random basis. We will continue to roll out in a safe and controlled manner ensuring there is sufficient capacity in place to proceed. Information on the number of claimants who have claimed PIP as a result of this activity, by a range of geographic breakdowns including parliamentary constituency, is available from Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.

Universal Credit

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been migrated on to universal credit through a change of circumstance in each of the last three years.

Priti Patel: This information is not currently available.

Children: Poverty

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to produce child poverty statistics at (a) local authority and (b) parliamentary constituency level.

Priti Patel: Through the Welfare Reform and Work Act we have introduced new life chances measures to track children in workless households and children’s educational attainment. These – and other measures to be brought forward in our forthcoming Life Chances Strategy – will help drive action on those areas that make the most difference to children’s lives. We will continue to publish data on low income through the annual Households Below Average Income statistics. The number and proportion of children in relative low income is not available at local authority or constituency level. This is because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.

Universal Credit

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether jobseekers in receipt of universal credit are sanctioned if they do not look for work for 35 hours a week in every week of the year.

Priti Patel: Universal Credit jobseekers must do all they reasonably can to look for work and any requirements placed on the claimant will have been accepted by them in their Claimant Commitment. All work-related requirements are set in discussion with the claimant and tailored to their capability and circumstances. When making an assessment on whether the claimant has met their requirements, if the claimant has done all they can reasonably be expected to do to find work in any week, the claimant will be treated as complying with the requirement.

Universal Credit

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether jobseekers in receipt of universal credit are expected to look for work for 35 hours in a week in which Christmas falls.

Priti Patel: A work coach will discuss with the claimant what they can reasonably be expected to do in any week to look for work. The claimant’s availability will take into account their individual circumstances. For instance, where the claimant has sincerely held religious beliefs the work coach would agree with the claimant a pattern of work search/availability over the course of a week, as long as they still have reasonable prospects of finding work.

Children: Maintenance

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the receipts to the public purse were from (a) the £20 fee charged for applications to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), (b) the 20 per cent collection fee for paying parents using the CMS collect and pay service, (c) the four per cent collection fee for receiving parents using the CMS collect and pay service and (d) enforcement fees levied on paying parents in 2015-16.

Priti Patel: Receipts to the public purse during 2015-16 were as follows:  ItemAmount received in 2015/16Application fee£1.7mCollection charge from paying parents£5.6mCollection charge from receiving parents£1.1mEnforcement charges£0.1m  These figures are draft and subject to audit.

Universal Credit: Disqualification

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) maximum and (b) minimum rates are at which people must repay hardship payments when their universal credit claim restarts after a sanction.

Priti Patel: There is no minimum rate at which people must repay hardship payments when their universal credit claim restarts after a sanction, as this is dependent on their personal circumstances. The maximum amount repayable, where no other higher-priority deductions are in place, is an amount equal to 40% of the Standard Allowance.

Universal Credit

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether jobseekers in receipt of universal credit are expected to look for work for 35 hours a week while they are on holiday.

Priti Patel: If a claimant chooses to go on holiday in Great Britain or abroad they must continue to carry out work-related requirements as set out on their Claimant Commitment. No allowances have been made within the conditionality regime for holidays. Therefore claimants must do all they reasonably can to look for work in each week, including continuing to attend their normal appointments, be available to attend job interviews or take up offers of employment, even if this means cutting short a holiday.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: UK Membership of EU

William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will place in the Library copies of all letters, leaflets and other material from her Department circulated to (a) stakeholders and (b) members of the public on the EU Referendum; what the costs of the production and distribution of that material has been since 1 January 2016; and what she estimates the cost of any further production and distribution of such material will be between 6 May 2016 and 23 June 2016.

George Eustice: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury and Parliamentary Secretary (Minister for Constitutional Reform), the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare, John Penrose, to PQ UIN 38811 on 8 June 2016.

Litter

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding her Department provides for (a) litter awareness campaigns, (b) implementation of the National Litter Strategy and (c) litter clearance at sites of national and cultural significance.

Rory Stewart: Defra supported the Clean for the Queen campaign, run earlier this year on behalf of Country Life by Keep Britain Tidy, with a grant of £9,500 towards providing resource packs to help support and encourage schools to participate in the campaign and to support monitoring and evaluation of the impacts and effectiveness of the campaign. The Department for Communities and Local Government also spent £5,000 on promoting the initiative through Facebook. Defra also provides £5,000 per year to the Marine Conservation Society to carry out beach cleaning at priority beaches. It is up to local councils to determine their own spending priorities, including for litter clearance at local sites of national or cultural significance, and central Government does not provide any specific funding to them for this purpose. Where such sites are on private land, it is for the landowner to make arrangements for litter clearance. Where possible, we aim to ensure that the costs of dealing with litter issues are passed to those responsible for causing the problem. We will look to implement measures in the forthcoming Litter Strategy for England through working in partnership with business and campaigning organisations.

Litter

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what government funding local litter awareness groups can apply for.

Rory Stewart: Central Government does not make any funding directly available to local litter awareness groups. It is up to local councils to determine how to use the central Government funding they receive for local services: this can include making some funding available to local volunteer groups to carry out litter-picking and raise awareness of litter as a local issue.

Noise

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what measures her Department has in place to record noise nuisance incidents.

Rory Stewart: Defra does not keep records of noise nuisance incidents. Local authorities are the main enforcers of the statutory noise nuisance regime and associated legislation. There is no obligation on local authorities to report noise complaints data to central government. The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health carries out a voluntary annual survey of local authorities regarding complaints about noise, the results of which are published as part of the Public Health Outcomes Framework and may be found via the following weblink: http://www.phoutcomes.info/search/noise.

Soft Drinks: Sales

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of soft drinks sales were of (a) regular and (b) diet or low calorie drinks in each of the last 10 years.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of trends in regular soft drinks sales over the last 10 years.

George Eustice: Defra’s Family Food Survey estimates household average expenditure on, and purchased quantities of food and drink. The latest ten years of UK estimates for soft drinks and the proportion of spending on low calorie and regular drinks are shown below. Further estimates going back to 1992 are available in the Family Food Survey which can be found on the GOV.UK website. UK household expenditure on soft drinksAverage pence per person per week Description2005-06200620072008200920102011201220132014Soft drinks778179818589939610095Soft drinks, concentrated, not low calorie1011101011108887Soft drinks, not concentrated, not low calorie47474748525251515251Soft drinks, concentrated, low calorie2333346788Soft drinks, not concentrated, low calorie17202019202328303230Low calorie25%28%29%28%27%30%37%39%40%40%Not low calorie75%72%71%73%73%70%63%61%60%60%

Recycling

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to encourage recycling.

Rory Stewart: The Government works with local authorities and the Waste and Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) to provide advice and promote best practice among local authorities on waste and recycling. The UK recycling rate has increased from 11% in 2000 to 44.9% in 2014. This progress is thanks in large part to the hard work of local authorities and householders to recycle more. Greater consistency in local authority recycling – taking account of best practice – in particular has potential to increase recycling rates further. I have asked WRAP to work with an Advisory Group of waste stakeholders, to look at the benefits and opportunities from having greater consistency in the materials collected and collection systems to enable local authorities to recycle more, and to make it easier for householders to put the right materials in the right bin. This work will seek to improve the quality and quantity of materials recycled and to deliver value for money for local authorities. This not only includes opportunities for local authorities, but also what actions can be taken by waste producers and reprocessors to support greater consistency and increased recycling.

Veal

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department's policy is on the appropriateness of the EU sales description of veal as meat of bovine animals aged less than the eight months; and if she will make representations to the EU on changing that description to meat of bovine animals aged less than six months.

George Eustice: The definition of veal as being from bovines aged under eight months is well-established in European marketing and beef labelling regulations and is widely understood by consumers. The Government has not received any representations advocating that this definition should be reviewed or amended, but if the Member for Tiverton and Honiton has information which he thinks we should consider, we shall be happy to do so.

Greyhounds: Exports

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of animal welfare regulations in (a) Spain, (b) Pakistan, (c) China and (d) other common destination countries for greyhounds exported for commercial use.

George Eustice: Animal welfare regulations in third countries are the responsibility of those countries. However, we encourage other countries to improve or maintain welfare standards including through being a member of international organisations such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Meat: Ritual Slaughter

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the extent to which kosher products are sold without being labelled as such in (a) supermarkets and (b) restaurants and cafes.

George Eustice: There is no obligation to label products as being kosher. However, when foods are labelled or presented as such, the information given must not mislead the average consumer. It is the responsibility of food businesses, including retailers and caterers, to ensure that the food they sell is what they say it is.The definition of kosher and certification as kosher is a matter for the Jewish community and private business.Accreditation bodies can assist retailers by setting standards and ensuring that these standards are met. These bodies are private organisations.

Meat: Ritual Slaughter

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the extent to which halal products are sold without being labelled as such in (a) supermarkets and (b) restaurants and cafes.

George Eustice: There is no obligation to label products as being halal. However, when foods are labelled or presented as such, the labelling must not mislead the consumer. It is the responsibility of food businesses, including retailers and caterers, to ensure that the food they sell is what they say it is. The definition of halal and certification as halal is a matter for the Muslim community and private business. Accreditation bodies can assist retailers by setting standards and ensuring that these standards are met. These bodies are private organisations.

Glyphosate

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effect on human health of glyphosate.

George Eustice: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recently reassessed glyphosate to take into account scientific developments since it was approved. EFSA’s scientific assessment has concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to be carcinogenic, and that it does not pose a risk to human health. The Government believes that pesticides should be authorised where scientific evidence shows that they do not pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment. UK experts agree that glyphosate meets these standards, and we therefore consider that glyphosate should be approved.

Home Office

Immigration: Children

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have been reunited with their families in the UK in (a) the last five years and (b) the last year under (i) the EU Dublin III Regulation; (ii) part 11 of the UK immigration rules, (iii) any other parts of the UK immigration rules and (iv) under exceptional circumstances.

James Brokenshire: There are several routes for children to be reunited safely with their families in the UK. Applications for family reunion for individuals under the age of 18 years of age can be received both in country and out of country and are processed by a number of casework units within the Home Office including International Operations, Settlement, Complex Casework and Asylum Operations. Unfortunately the way these applications are processed and the method used to store the data on the main immigration database means that not all of the data is recorded in a format that can be reported on automatically and would therefore require a manual investigation of thousands of case records. As a result this data could only be provided at disproportionate cost.Since 2010 we have granted more than 21,000 family reunion visas and 175 visas for exceptional circumstances though we are not able to distinguish from the data how many of these applicants were under the age of 18. Internal Management information concerning applications from people under 18 processed by International Operations and Complex Casework are listed in the table below:YearComplex Casework2010142011142012820137201424201510Grand Total77 YearInternational Operations2011295020122406201326242014288220153088Grand Total13950This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

Asylum: Children

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken in conjunction with the French government to ensure that unaccompanied child refugees have access to high quality legal assistance in order to submit claims for family reunion under the Dublin III Regulation.

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of her officials are working in Calais and Northern France to identify, screen and process those unaccompanied child refugees who are potentially eligible under the Dublin III Regulation for family reunion in the UK; and how many applications under that regulation have been processed in each of the last 15 weeks.

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will increase the number of her officials working in Calais to process applications from unaccompanied child refugees for family reunion in the UK; and what steps she is taking to ensure that the applications from 157 children in Calais estimated as eligible for family reunion can be processed in time for them to start school in the UK in September 2016.

James Brokenshire: Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and the UK seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to improve all stages of the process of identifying, protecting and transferring relevant cases to the UK. The Home Office will review the existing arrangements as part of the work to implement relevant provisions of the Immigration Act 2016. Between the start of January 2016 and 30th April 2016 our records indicate that the UK has accepted over 30 requests from France under the Dublin Regulations to take charge of asylum seeking children on family grounds of which more than 20 have already been transferred to the UK.To assist with the identification of potential victims of trafficking and exploitation (including unaccompanied children) in Calais, the UK has funded a project run by a French non-governmental organisation which aims to identify and direct these vulnerable people to the appropriate support services in France.The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which informs individuals (including unaccompanied children) of their rights to claim asylum in France and gives them information on family reunification. The frequency of these campaigns has been increased in line with the Joint Declaration signed in August 2015.

UK Membership of EU

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to safeguard the existing rights under EU treaties of non-UK EU citizens living in the UK in the event of a vote to leave the EU.

James Brokenshire: Article 50 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union deals with the process of exiting the EU.More detail is set out in the Government’s White Paper: ‘The process for withdrawing from the European Union’, published on 29 February. The White Paper is available on the GOV.UK website, using the following link: www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-process-for-withdrawing-from-the-european-union

Pakistan: Visas

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of settlement visas using the priority visa service were processed in Islamabad, Pakistan within (a) 10, (b) 15, (c) 30, (d) 60, (e) 90 and (f) 120 days.

James Brokenshire: There were five priority settlement applications processed in Islamabad, Pakistan between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2015. All of these cases were resolved within 15 days.This data is taken from provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

UK Border Force

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the current (a) manpower establishment and (b) deployment is of the UK Border Force.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Children

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to accelerate the family reunification process for unaccompanied children in Europe with a family in the UK.

James Brokenshire: The Government continues to work with key EU Member States to ensure the Dublin Regulation family reunification process works effectively.Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and we have seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to facilitate the improvement of all stages of the process. The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which inform unaccompanied children and others of their right to claim asylum in France and of the family reunion process.We are also providing support to the Dublin Units in Greece and Italy bilaterally and through European Asylum Support Office. On 4 May we announced the Government will work with local authorities on plans to resettle unaccompanied children from Europe. We are looking to transfer children who were already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March, where it is in their best interests.We will work closely with local authorities to implement this initiative. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK, as well as ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We will also consult relevant Non-Governmental Organisations, the UNHCR, UNICEF and Member States.

Asylum: Greater London

Mr David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many places have been made available by each London borough for (a) the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, (b) the Children at Risk from the Middle East and North Africa scheme and (c) unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Europe.

James Brokenshire: For those refugees resettled in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme the Home Office publishes the number of people resettled, broken down by local authority, on a quarterly basis. The most recent statistics were published on 26 May 2016 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2016) These figures show the number of refugees that were resettled in each area up to the end of March 2016.As the Prime Minister announced on 4 May and as set out in the new Immigration Act 2016, we will work to admit unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK. The very nature of this legislation means we must take the time to consult Local Authorities and others before bringing final proposals on how to implement this scheme.We will consult local authorities to establish how best to implement this commitment and the recently announced Children at Risk resettlement scheme, which is the only other resettlement to include unaccompanied children, as part of our wider discussion with them about the transfer of unaccompanied asylum seeking children who have arrived spontaneously, which is designed to relieve the pressure on authorities such as Kent.

Asylum: Greater London

Mr David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) asylum seekers and (b) refugees have been accommodated by each London borough in the last three years.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Immigrants: Social Security Benefits

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that benefit applications by people who have been granted the right to remain in the UK are not affected by the time taken for confirmation of leave to remain.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Security: Regulation

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals for the regulation of the private security industry based on her Department's consultation on a future regulatory regime for the private security industry, published in September 2013.

Mike Penning: The Government is committed to ensuring the integrity of the private security industry. A review of the Security Industry Authority is currently underway which has included a call for evidence from interested parties. That evidence is now being considered as part of a review, and a report will be published once that process has been completed. The Government will carefully consider the recommendations from the review in deciding what changes, including legislative proposals, to the existing regulatory regime should be brought forward.

Asylum: Children

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Government's press release, Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to be resettled from Europe, published on 4 May 2016, what the timetable is for implementation of that commitment.

James Brokenshire: As announced by the Prime Minister on 4 May and now reflected in the Immigration Act 2016, we will work to admit unaccompanied refugee children to the UK from elsewhere in the EU, where this is considered to be in the child’s best interests. The very nature of this legislation means we must take the time to consult others before bringing final proposals on how to implement.We will work closely with local authorities to implement this initiative. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in UK, as well ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We will also consult relevant Non-Governmental Organisations, the UNHCR, UNICEF and Member States.Work has already begun and we are committed to act as quickly as we can but it is important we take the necessary time to ensure we have the capacity to resettle and support those who are resettled. We must also ensure that we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK.

Asylum

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what advice, assistance and representation the Government provides to unsettled asylum-seeking women and children who have experienced gender-based violence.

James Brokenshire: When an application for asylum is lodged, all asylum seekers are provided with information, in a range of languages, about the asylum process. This leaflet, entitled ‘Information about your asylum application’, includes details on where asylum seekers can obtain information about local legal advisers and local and national voluntary sector organisations that can provide support and assistance.We have worked closely with partners, including the Refugee Council, to develop a referral process, so that women are formally referred to special counselling services when they disclose issues relating to sexual violence as part of their asylum claim. We intend to monitor this process as part of our commitment to ensure the asylum process is gender sensitive and responsive to the needs of those who have suffered sexual violence in conflict.

Asylum: Children

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to accelerate the family reunification process for unaccompanied children in Europe with family in the UK.

James Brokenshire: The Government continues to work with key EU Member States to ensure the Dublin Regulation family reunification process works effectively.Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and we have seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to facilitate the improvement of all stages of the process. The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which inform unaccompanied children and others of their right to claim asylum in France and of the family reunion process.We are also providing support to the Dublin Units in Greece and Italy bilaterally and through the European Asylum Support Office. On 4 May we announced the Government will work with local authorities on plans to resettle unaccompanied children from Europe. We are looking to transfer children who were already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March, where it is in their best interests.We will work closely with local authorities to implement this initiative. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK, as well as ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We will also consult relevant Non-Governmental Organisations, the UNHCR, UNICEF and Member States.

Visas: Married People

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what evidence can be provided to prove gross rental income in order to meet the minimum income threshold for a spousal visa.

James Brokenshire: Under paragraph 10(a) of Appendix FM-SE to the Immigration Rules, the evidence required of gross rental income under the minimum income threshold for a spousal visa comprises confirmation of ownership of the property, personal bank statements showing the relevant income and a rental agreement or contract.

Asylum: Housing

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding criteria are included in the terms and conditions of Compass Contracts awarded for providing accommodation to asylum seekers.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Extradition

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many extraditions have been approved since 1990 in respect of which written assurances have been received that the death penalty will not be imposed.

James Brokenshire: The statistics sought are not held centrally.The Extradition Act 2003 makes it clear that the Secretary of State must not order extradition if the subject of the extradition request could be, will be or has been sentenced to death for the offence concerned in the requesting territory. However, this does not apply if the Secretary of State receives a written assurance which she considers adequate that a sentence of death will not be imposed, or will not be carried out (if imposed). Similar provisions were included in legislation governing extradition prior to the 2003 Act.

Refugees: Loans

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) mean, (b) maximum and (c) median value was of refugee integration loans in each of the last five years.

Richard Harrington: Holding answer received on 08 June 2016



YearsMean value2011/12£4612012/13£3822013/14£3882014/15£4832015/16£482This is taken from local records and not from officially published statistics and it is therefore provisional and subject to change. It has not been assured under Office for National Statistics standards.For the above years, the maximum loan amount has been varied between £500 and £400. The current maximum amount payable is £500. It is not possible to provide a median value given the large volume of loans paid.

Refugees: Loans

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a refugee integration loan have been (a) made, (b) accepted and (c) refused in each of the last five years.

Richard Harrington: Holding answer received on 08 June 2016



YearsNo. Applications receivedNo. Applications paidTotal value of loansMean value2011/1225521766£814,551£4612012/1321251451£553,685£3822013/1422051506£619,330£3882014/1525341457£704,409£4832015/1639712525£1,216,095£482This is taken from local records and not from officially published statistics and it is therefore provisional and subject to change. It has not been assured under Office for National Statistics standardsWe do not hold official statistics or local management information on the number of applications refused but the difference between the number of loans applications made and those paid is indicative of the number of applications that were not granted a loan either because the applicant was not eligible to receive a loan, did not demonstrate a need for a loan, or did not provide the required information to consider their loan application.

Refugees: Loans

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) mean, (b) maximum and (c) median length of time has been for a decision to be made on an application for a refugee integration loan in each of the last five years.

Richard Harrington: Holding answer received on 08 June 2016



There is no information held on decision making times over the last five years. It is the departments aim to respond to all applications as quickly as possible.

Asylum: Families

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many grants for refugee family reunion have been made outside the immigration rules in each of the last two years.

James Brokenshire: The data is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained by examining individual case records which would incur disproportionate cost.

Human Trafficking

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total amount (a) awarded and (b) recovered was from individuals convicted of human trafficking offences in each of the last three years; and how much of the money so recovered was allocated to (i) the Treasury, (ii) the police and (iii) the victim.

Karen Bradley: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence

NATO

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the progress made by NATO since the 2010 Strategic Concept in (a) territorial defence, (b) crisis management and (c) co-operative security.

Mr Julian Brazier: NATO has made significant progress on the 2010 Strategic Concept's core tasks, through the 2014 NATO Wales Summit Declaration and in subsequent actions.The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 outlined that NATO remains at the heart of UK defence and security and Allies regularly reaffirm commitment to NATO's Article 5 in support of the Strategic Concept's Collective Defence. The implementation of Assurance Measures and the Readiness Action Plan agreed in Wales has delivered an effective and united response to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and its actions in Eastern Ukraine.NATO stands ready to employ an appropriate mix of robust political and military capabilities to address the spectrum of potential crises, before, during, and after conflicts in order to deliver Euro-Atlantic security. The Wales Summit tripled the size of NATO's enhanced response forces, meaning that the Alliance is better prepared and more capable to respond to all threats and challenges.NATO is actively engaged in enhancing international security through partnerships with countries and international organisations; its support to counter-migration efforts in the Aegean is an example of close NATO-EU co-operation. Wales also included the unprecedented commitment by NATO Heads of State to halt the decline in defence expenditure.

Nuclear Disarmament

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 10 November 2015 to Question 14817, what progress the Government plans to make towards nuclear disarmament beyond the steps outlined in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010.

Mr Philip Dunne: The UK is widely recognised as the most pro-active of the nuclear weapon states on nuclear disarmament. We remain committed to maintaining a minimum credible deterrent and we believe that our nuclear arsenal is the smallest of the five Nuclear Weapon States as recognised by the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We have reduced our nuclear forces by over half from their Cold War peak in the late 1970s. We reduced the number of deployed warheads on each submarine from 48 to 40 last year and we are reducing our overall stockpile to no more than 180 warheads by the mid-2020s. We possess around 1% of the total global stockpile of approximately 17,000 nuclear weapons. In addition, the UK plays a leading role on disarmament verification with the US and Norway and continues to press for key steps towards multilateral disarmament, including the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and successful negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty in the Conference on Disarmament.

NATO: Armed Forces

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the composition is of a NATO Spearhead Force; and what the UK role and obligation is in such forces.

Mr Julian Brazier: NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) has been developed since the Wales Summit in 2014 as part of an enhanced NATO Response Force. The VJTF has a brigade sized land force held at very high readiness; NATO's Standing Naval Forces include groups of destroyers, frigates, and mine countermeasures vessels; and the air element comprises fighters and bombers.The UK is making a major contribution to the VJTF by providing ships and aircraft each year in addition to leading the VJTF land brigade in 2017. We are also contributing an infantry battlegroup to the Spanish-led VJTF land brigade this year and will support the Polish-led VJTF in 2020.

Married Quarters

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of properties in the Married Quarters Estate (i) nationally and (ii) in Greater London are unoccupied; and what rent is paid annually for those properties.

Mr Julian Brazier: As at 6 June 2016, there are 10,187 void properties across the UK, 7,680 of which are owned by Annington Homes Ltd, out of a total stock of 49,699. This gives a proportion of 20.5% of properties void nationally.If the 7,680 properties owned by Annington Homes Ltd remained void for the whole year, then the Ministry of Defence (MOD) would pay £32.8 million in maintenance and rent.In Greater London (within the M25 corridor), there are 328 void properties out of a total of 2,245, which gives a proportion of 14.6%.If the 314 properties owned by Annington Homes Ltd in Greater London remained void for the whole year then the MOD would pay £1.3 million.Departmental policy is for 10% of properties to be void, and we will reduce the existing 20% to 10% from a combination of disposals, demolitions, leasing and housing of Service personnel returning from Germany.

Air Force: Foreign Nationals

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many non-UK airforce personnel were trained by the Royal Air Force in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16; which countries those personnel were from; what the cost to the RAF of such training was; and whether those costs were reimbursed.

Penny Mordaunt: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, it has been possible to provide a list of countries from which non-UK personnel were trained by the Royal Air Force. The list is attached.International Defence Training is an important part of our International Defence Engagement Strategy, which seeks to use our national capabilities to extend the influence of the UK in the world.



39271 - Annex A - RAF Training
(Word Document, 15.25 KB)

HM Treasury

Economic Situation: EU Countries

William Wragg: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on (a) the UK economy and (b) the public finances of a slowdown in the economies (i) in the Eurozone and (ii) of other EU member states.

Mr David Gauke: HM Treasury does not publish estimates of the impact of the economic performance of the euro area or other EU Member States on the UK economy or public finances. The Treasury continuously monitors global economic developments as part of the normal process of domestic policy development.

Economic Situation: EU Countries

William Wragg: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the economic events in other EU member states that would have an adverse impact on the UK economy; and what steps he has taken to model the effects of such risks.

Mr David Gauke: HM Treasury does not publish estimates of the effect of economic events in other EU Member States on the UK economy. The Treasury continuously monitors global economic developments as part of the normal process of domestic policy development.

Unemployment: EU Countries

William Wragg: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on (a) the UK economy and (b) public finances of higher unemployment levels in (i) the Eurozone and (ii) other EU member states.

Mr David Gauke: HM Treasury does not publish estimates of the effect of higher unemployment levels in the euro area or other EU Member States on the UK economy or public finances. The Treasury continuously monitors global economic developments as part of the normal process of domestic policy development.

Economic Situation

William Wragg: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons the HM Treasury analysis: the long term economic impact of EU membership and the alternatives did not include an assessment of the potential effect on the UK economy of a potential reduction in GDP in the EU.

Mr David Gauke: The main estimates in the HM Treasury analysis are based on the EU as it is today, without further reform. The total cost of leaving is likely to be higher. If the economic benefits of reform are realised this could increase UK GDP by up to a further 4% – which equates to £2,800 for every household in the UK. With the UK outside the EU these economic reforms would be less likely to happen. So the cost of exit in terms of the potential loss of GDP would be correspondingly greater.

Economic Situation

William Wragg: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will undertake an assessment of the potential effect on the UK economy of a reduction of (a) 0.1, (b) 0.2, (c) 0.3, (d) 0.4, (e) 0.5, (f) one, (g) two, (h) three, (i) four and (j) five per cent in the (i) GDP of each EU member state, (ii) average GDP across the Eurozone and (iii) average GDP across the EU.

Mr David Gauke: HM Treasury has not produced estimates of the impact of the economic performance of the euro area or other EU Member States on the UK economy. The Treasury continuously monitors global economic developments as part of the normal process of domestic policy development.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Fracking

Mr Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether local planning authorities can only grant hydraulic fracturing consent for a well after an environment impact assessment directive compliance assessment has taken place.

Andrea Leadsom: The Infrastructure Act 2015 makes clear that my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will not grant consent for associated hydraulic fracturing unless the environmental impact of the development, which includes the relevant well, has been taken into account by the local planning authority. We will expect operators to complete an Environmental Impact Assessment in order to fulfil condition 1 in section 50 of the Act.

Tidal Power

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made on the viability of using rivers with tidal streams as a source of tidal energy.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government recognises the potential that tidal energy could play as part of the UK energy mix, and the Crown Estate conducted a study in 2012 of the UK’s wave and tidal energy resources.

Green Deal Scheme

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of (a) firms pretending to be authorised Green Deal providers and (b) the means available to secure redress against such firms.

Andrea Leadsom: The Green Deal Oversight and Registration Body (GD ORB) are responsible for administrating the Green Deal Code of Practice (CoP) on behalf of the Secretary of State. As part of their monitoring and compliance functions the GD ORB carry out regular website sweeps to ensure that non-authorised organisations are not bringing the Green Deal into disrepute, this includes the unauthorised use of the Green Deal quality mark. Any non-authorised organisations found to be in breach of the CoP are contacted by the GD ORB who advise that continued misuse of the Green Deal quality mark will be referred to the Advertising Standards Authority and Trading Standards Service who may take further action against the organisation, such as court procedures. Further action that could be taken includes requesting that internet search websites remove the organisation’s paid-for search advertisements when those advertisements link directly to a page on their website that hosts non-compliant marketing communication. Consumers who have concerns about any dealings with non-authorised organisations should in the first instance contact Citizens Advice.

Energy: Private Rented Housing

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what financial and other support her Department plans to provide to help non-domestic landlords meet the requirements of the Private Rented Sector Energy Efficiency Regulations (Non-domestic) (England and Wales) 2015.

Andrea Leadsom: Holding answer received on 06 June 2016



Under the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015, landlords of privately rented non-domestic property will need to ensure that, from 1 April 2018, their properties reach at least an energy performance rating of E before granting a tenancy to new or existing tenants. Non-domestic landlords cannot rely on subsidy to pay for any energy efficiency improvements which may be necessary, and no targeted financial assistance is planned. However, the Regulations incorporate a cost effectiveness test, and landlords may be eligible for an exemption where the recommended measure(s) do not meet a seven year simple payback. The method of calculating the payback period is set out in the regulations. Government is currently working with industry stakeholders to finalise a comprehensive guidance document for non-domestic landlords on meeting the requirements of the Regulations, including further details on calculating payback. This guidance document will be published in due course.

Mining: Pensions

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the reasons are for the difference in the figures quoted as payments to HM Treasury in respect of its guarantee for the Mineworkers Pension Scheme and the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme in paragraph 1.21 of the National Audit Office report on Department of Trade and Industry: Sale of the mining operations of the British Coal Corporation, HC 360 1995-96, and the Answer of 8 March 2007 to Question 125573, HC Deb, Column 2124W.

Andrea Leadsom: Analysis by Binder Hamlyn in 2006 for the NAO had estimated the net present value of payments to the Government (net of any payments from the Government arising from its guarantee) at £2bn over 25 years. This reflects the value at the time of the expected future net payments. The parliamentary question 125573 answered on 8 March 2007 records that the Binder Hamlyn report found that the total gross payments to the Treasury would be £8bn. This would have been both gross of any payments from the Government and also in cash terms i.e. allowing for the returns achieved on the funds before payment.

Oil: Exploration

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will lay before Parliament (a) the Committee on Climate Change report on the compatibility of UK onshore petroleum with meeting UK carbon budgets and (b) her response to that report before 14 June 2016.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department has received the Committee on Climate Change report. We are considering the report and will lay it before Parliament with our response in due course.

Energy Company Obligation

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will set out a timeline for consulting on the Energy Company Obligation.

Andrea Leadsom: We are aiming to consult on the next phase of the Energy Company Obligation as soon as we can. We recognise the interest in understanding the detail of the Obligation from April 2017 and some aspects have already been made known, including the scale and the increased focus on those most in need. The Department meets regularly with a broad range of stakeholders and exchanges learning on the operation of the current Obligation as well as thinking on possible future design.

Department for Energy and Climate Change: Conditions of Employment

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many staff of her Department have been paid off-payroll since May 2015.

Andrea Leadsom: In the Department of Energy and Climate Change there were 193 contingent staff paid off-payroll in the period from May 2015 to 30 April 2016. Not all contingent staff were in post for the full 12 months. Contingent staff are engaged to undertake short term activities to meet business needs.

Energy: Meters

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what her policy is on making smart meters universally compatible for all energy suppliers.

Andrea Leadsom: Interoperability is one of the Government’s key requirements for the main installation stage of smart metering, which is due to commence later this year. The Government has already established common technical standards for the smart metering equipment (SMETS) and put in place the Data and Communications Company (DCC). This is responsible for setting up the nationwide communications infrastructure across Great Britain to send and receive information from any energy supplier to smart meters.

Energy: Meters

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions she has had with Ofgem on the roll out of smart meters to homes across the UK.

Andrea Leadsom: DECC ministers and officials engage regularly with Ofgem, both bilaterally and as part of the Programme’s Transitional Governance Model arrangements, in line with our roles set out in the joint DECC/Ofgem open letter to the industry on the implementation of smart metering published in December 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-implementation-and-regulation-of-smart-metering-a-joint-deccofgem-open-letter-to-the-industry.

Carbon Sequestration

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she has taken to engage with the bidders for the carbon capture and storage competition since its cancellation.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department has continued to engage and meet with both bidders in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition – Shell and Capture Power Limited. We are clear that CCS is too expensive and costs must come down. We continue to work with wider industry to help develop CCS cost efficiency in the UK, including through the joint Government-industry CCS Development Forum, which I co-chair

Carbon Sequestration

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what payments her Department has made to (a) White Rose CCS, (b) Shell and (c) SSE since the cancellation of the carbon capture and storage competition.

Andrea Leadsom: Since the cancellation of the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Competition, the Department has made the following payments to the bidders under the terms of the Front End Engineering and Design contracts between Government and each bidder: White Rose ProjectCapture Power Ltd: £26,377,223.86Peterhead ProjectShell: £3,032,394SSE: £0.

Carbon Sequestration

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the bidders for the carbon capture and storage competition have (a) sought and (b) been offered compensation from her Department for costs they incurred prior to that competition's cancellation.

Andrea Leadsom: The carbon capture and storage competition document stated that the Department would not meet bidders’ costs other than those shared with the Department through the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract, and that payments to bidders since November 2015 have been consistent with the terms and conditions in those FEED contracts agreed between Government and each bidder.

Department for Energy and Climate Change: Temporary Employment

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much her Department has spent on agency workers in each of the last five financial years.

Andrea Leadsom: Expenditure on contingent workers is published each year in the Annual Report and Accounts. The expenditure for the past five years is in the table below:  2010-11 £’0002011-12 £’0002012-13 £’0002013-14 £’0002014-15 £’000Contingent Workers4,8903,4204,5116,8776,245

Coal: Exports

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what information her Department holds on plans by UK companies or organisations to export coal held in UK stockpiles.

Andrea Leadsom: This is a matter for individual coal generating companies.

Department for Energy and Climate Change: Temporary Employment

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many staff in agencies for which she is responsible have been paid off-payroll since May 2015.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Energy and Climate change has one executive agency, the Oil and Gas Authority. There were 21 contingent staff paid off-payroll in the period from May 2015 to 30 April 2016. Not all contingent staff were in post for the full 12 months. Contingent staff are engaged to undertake short term activities to meet business needs.

Cabinet Office

Electoral Register

Grahame Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the implications for the Government's policy on voter registration of the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Democratic Participation, entitled Getting the Missing Millions on to the Electoral Register, published in April 2016.

John Penrose: I have set out an ambitious vision of how electoral registration could change over the course of this Parliament, building on the successful introduction of Individual Electoral Registration and online registration. The overarching aims are to ensure registers are as complete and accurate as they can be and that the system of electoral registration is as efficient as possible. We welcome the views of the All- Party Parliamentary Group and Bite the Ballot set out in their report which is helping inform our plans for a programme of work aimed at realising this vision.

Absent Voting

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to allow postal voting ballot papers to be counted separately in order to more easily detect fraud.

John Penrose: The law provides for the checking of the integrity of completed postal ballots prior to them being included in the count. Returning Officers are required to check 100% of postal vote identifiers (signatures and dates of birth) returned with completed postal votes against those supplied by the elector when they applied for a postal vote. Any that do not match will not be counted in order to prevent any attempt at electoral fraud. The law requires that postal ballot papers are mixed with ballot papers from a ballot box before they can be counted as a necessary step in order to help protect the secrecy of the ballot.

Cabinet Office: UK Membership of EU

William Wragg: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will place in the Library copies of all letters, leaflets and other material from his Department circulated to (a) stakeholders and (b) members of the public on the EU Referendum; what the costs of the production and distribution of that material has been since 1 January 2016; and what he estimates the cost of any further production and distribution of such material will be between 6 May 2016 and 23 June 2016.

William Wragg: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will place in the Library copies of all letters, leaflets and other material from 10 Downing Street circulated to (a) stakeholders and (b) members of the public on the EU referendum; what the costs of the production and distribution of that material has been since 1 January 2016; and what he estimates the cost of any further production and distribution of such material will be between 6 May 2016 and 23 June 2016.

John Penrose: Copies of the Government's published documents on the Referendum are available in the Libraries of both Houses. It is not normal practice to publish letters to members of the public and stakeholders. Costs relating to the Referendum will be accounted for in the usual way in Annual Report and Accounts.

UK Membership of EU: Referendums

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government (a) has spent to date and (b) plans to spend before 23 June 2016 on promoting the Government's policy on the UK's membership of the EU.

John Penrose: The Government published on 6th April 2016 the total cost of producing, distributing and publicising the Government’s leaflet on the EU Referendum, including digital promotion and the production of eureferndum.gov.uk. Wider costs relating to the Referendum will be accounted for in the usual way in Annual Report and Accounts.

Civil Servants: Training

Louise Haigh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of Civil Service Fast Stream employees based in London complete a placement outside London.

Matthew Hancock: The Civil Service Fast Stream is a rotational graduate development programme that lasts 4 years. Fast Streamers are employed on a national contract and undertake a number of roles across different Civil Service organisations and in different locations across the UK.The number and proportion of Fast Streamers who will have undertaken a regional placement by the end of their programme will be available for the first cohort who joined in 2013, once they have completed the 4 year programme in October 2017.

UK Membership of EU: Referendums

William Wragg: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 13 April 2016 to Question 32900, what materials have been distributed to (a) students and (b) higher and further education institutions in respect of (i) voter registration and (ii) the EU referendum; what the cost to the public purse of that material was; and if he will place copies of all such material in the Library.

John Penrose: Ministers wrote to universities, Further Education and sixth form colleges to encourage them to promote registration among their students ahead of the Referendum. The Government used social media to support initiatives such as Universities UK’s ‘student action week’ and shared the Electoral Commission’s publicly available materials at no additional cost to the public purse. No additional activity has taken place with these audiences since the start of the Purdah period.

Immigration

William Wragg: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many migrants from (a) the EU, (b) the EEA and (c) countries outside the EU have settled in the UK since 1 January 2004 in each (i) region and (ii) local authority area where they have settled.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



Excel Attachment for Member - Migrants
(Excel SpreadSheet, 137 KB)




UKSA Letter to Member - Migrants
(PDF Document, 63.01 KB)

UK Membership of EU: Referendums

Tim Loughton: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 37839, what the cost to the public purse has been of advertising of the Government's position on the EU referendum specifically on social media to date, excluding the cost of producing, distributing and publicising the Government's EU referendum leaflet and associated website.

John Penrose: The Government confirmed on 6th April 2016 that £2,894,064 had been set aside for the promotion of information relating to the EU Referendum, including the production of eureferndum.gov.uk. Costs relating to the Referendum will be accounted for in the usual way in Annual Report and Accounts.

Childbirth: Cumbria

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many births were recorded at (a) West Cumberland Hospital and (b) Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle in 2015.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Letter to Member - Recorded Births
(PDF Document, 67.08 KB)

Department of Health

Fibromyalgia: Research

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to fund fibromyalgia research.

George Freeman: The Department's National Institute for Health Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including fibromyalgia. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

Antibiotics: Research

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much public funding has been provided for research into new alternatives to antibiotics in each of the last five years.

George Freeman: The information requested is not available.The Department funds the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to increase the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, drive faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy, and develop and support the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research. NIHR infection research expenditure has nearly doubled from £15.9 million in 2009/10 to £31.5 million in 2014/15 (the latest available figure). Data is not held for total NIHR expenditure on specific topics such as new alternatives to antibiotics.In November 2015, the NIHR announced investment of over £15.8 million in studies funded following a themed call for research proposals into antimicrobial resistance.

Obesity

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) children and (b) adults in (i) Copeland constituency, (ii) Cumbria and (iii) England are classed as (A) overweight, (B) obese and (C) morbidly obese in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Ellison: Child and adult overweight and obesity prevalence are not published using parliamentary constituency boundaries. Data is available for the local authorities of Copeland District Council and Cumbria County Council.Local authority level data on overweight and obese children are collected through the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). Subnational and national data are available to download from http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB19109 and http://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/national-child-measurement-programme (Link 1: latest NCMP data, 2014/15, Link 2: trend data from 2006/07 to 2014/15).Sub-national data on overweight and obese adults are available through the Active People Survey. Data collection on adult height and weight started in 2012, local authority data are not available before this. Subnational and national data are available to download from:http://www.noo.org.uk/visualisationThere is no published data at local authority level on morbid obesity in adults or children. National prevalence of adult morbid obesity (Body Mass Index > 40kg.m2) is available from the Health Survey for England (1993 to 2014):http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB19297

PrescQIPP

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that PrescQIPP (a) is accountable for its guidance to clinical commissioning groups and (b) adheres to all appropriate quality standards in its work.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures his Department has in place to ensure that PrescQIPP is accountable for the safety of its guidance to clinical commissioning groups.

George Freeman: PrescQIPP is an independent social enterprise and these are matters for the company. We understand that PrescQIPP has a quality assurance process in place to ensure the quality and evidence base of its guidance resources are of the highest standard. Further information is available at: www.prescqipp.info/prescqipp-reference-resources/send/2-public/831-prescqipp-quality-assurance-process

Dental Health: Cumbria

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children in Cumbria have presented at accident and emergency with dental problems in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Alistair Burt: There were less than five unplanned accident and emergency attendances where patients aged under 18 received dental treatment at providers within Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group area in 2014-15 and in 2015-16. These data are from hospital episode statistics, and figures between one and five have been suppressed to protect patient confidentiality. 2015-16 data are provisional.

Patients: Safety

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many never events have been recorded in hospitals in England in the last five years.

Ben Gummer: In the last five years there have been a total of 1,881 Never Events recorded in hospitals in England. The table below provides the specific annual figures of this total. YearData sourceTotal2011/12National Reporting and Learning System3262012/13National Reporting and Learning System237Strategic Executive Information System3292013/14Strategic Executive Information System3382014/15Strategic Executive Information System3062015/16 (provisional)Strategic Executive Information System345 Never Events cannot be compared year on year as the number of Never Events contained within the Never Events list and definitions of the individual Never Events have been modified each year, so direct comparison is not appropriate. Data for 2015/16 is still provisional and is yet to be confirmed in the annual data summary.

Autism: Diagnosis

Mrs Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2016 to Question 37620, whether the information requested in that Question is collected centrally by the NHS Commissioning Board.

Alistair Burt: NHS England does not collect data on the average time taken for autism diagnosis by age and gender. At a local level data is usually monitored by commissioners. Some limited local data on autism diagnosis is asked for as part of the Autism Self-Assessment Exercises overseen by Public Health England. The results of the last exercise were based mainly on 2014 data and can be accessed at:www.improvinghealthandlives.org.uk/projects/autsaf2014results

Health Professions: Training

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on funding of training of the findings of the report by London Economics, The impact of the 2015 comprehensive spending review on higher education fees and funding arrangements in subjects allied to medicine, on the potential effect on participation rates in such training of the replacement of bursaries with loans; and if he will make a statement.

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department's policy paper on NHS bursary reform, updated on 7 April 2016, against what baseline number the expected 10,000 increase in nursing, midwifery and allied health training places by 2020 as a result of the replacement of bursaries with student loans has been measured.

Ben Gummer: The Government is working with health and higher education delivery organisations to determine an appropriate baseline as part of implementing the reforms. The Government does not agree with or recognise the figures or findings quoted in the London Economics report. We need more home-grown nurses so the National Health Service does not have to rely on expensive agency staff or overseas nurses. At present two thirds of people who apply to become a nurse are not accepted for training. The changes will mean we are able to accept more applicants who get the right grades than we do currently.

Brain: Tumours

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will increase funding for research into brain tumours.

George Freeman: The Department funds the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to increase the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, drive faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy, and develop and support the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research. NIHR cancer research expenditure has risen from £101 million in 2010/11 to £135 million in 2014/15 (the latest available figure). Most of this investment (£111 million in 2014/15) is in cancer research infrastructure where spend on specific disease areas such as brain tumours cannot be separated from total infrastructure expenditure. This infrastructure includes NIHR biomedical research centres and the NIHR Clinical Research Network.The Government agrees that an increase in the level of brain tumour research is crucial in order to achieve better outcomes for patients and their families. Therefore, I will be convening a working group of clinicians, charities and officials to discuss how working together with our research funding partners, we can tackle the various issues raised by the brain cancer community to help increase the amount, and impact, of brain tumour research.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, where the test sites will be for the planned trials of pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England is currently working with NHS England, the Department, local authorities and other partners to identify local pre-exposure prophylaxis test sites to work with.

Infectious Diseases: Drugs

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which organisation has responsibility for commissioning drugs that prevent the contraction of infectious diseases.

George Freeman: Bacteria and viruses cause a wide range of infectious diseases. Clinical commissioning groups, NHS England and local authorities all have commissioning responsibilities in respect of provision of drugs that prevent infectious diseases.

Food: Hygiene

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with local businesses on the effect of mandatory displays of hygiene ratings on small, local and rural businesses.

Jane Ellison: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has responsibility for the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. Currently it is voluntary for food businesses in England to display their hygiene rating. The FSA has been monitoring the impact of mandatory display of ratings at food outlets in Wales. The Government will consider this evidence carefully once it is available.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to review the medical exemption criteria for NHS prescriptions to include all people with long-term conditions.

Alistair Burt: We have no plans to make any amendments to the list of medical conditions which provide exemption from the prescription charge.

Pharmacy

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what safeguards his Department plans to provide to ensure that pharmacies serving (a) deprived and (b) rural areas do not close as a result of changes to funding for community pharmacies.

Alistair Burt: Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive, including in deprived and rural areas. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.We have consulted with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee and others, including patient and public representatives, on our proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond. These are being considered in respect to the public sector equality duty, the family test and relevant duties of the Secretary of State under the NHS Act 2006. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course. This will include the impact on both deprived and rural communities.

Pharmacy: Finance

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of changes to community pharmacy funding on levels of health inequality.

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of changes to funding for community pharmacies on individuals with restricted mobility.

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of changes to funding for community pharmacies on access to healthcare for deprived communities.

Alistair Burt: Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service. We want to see a high quality community pharmacy service that is properly integrated into primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View.We want to make pharmacists a pivotal part of primary care for all patient groups, including the elderly and vulnerable, by increasing the number who bring their skills to general practitioner practices, care homes, urgent care and public health settings. We have consulted on how best to introduce a Pharmacy Integration Fund to help transform how pharmacists, their teams and community pharmacy will operate in the NHS, bringing clear benefits to patients and the public.Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.The community pharmacy proposals for 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered in respect to the public sector equality duty, the family test and relevant duties of the Secretary of State under the NHS Act 2006. This will consider health inequality, individuals with restricted mobility and access to healthcare for deprived communities. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.